Rupee ends down by nine paisas on import, corporate payments demand

Rupee ends down by nine paisas on import, corporate payments demand

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by nine paisas against dollar on Monday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments, dealers said.

The rupee ended Rs168.38 to the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs168.29 in interbank foreign exchange market.

Currency experts said that the local currency was under pressure due to higher demand for the greenback as market was opened after weekly holidays.

They hoped that the local currency likely to rebound in coming days due to sufficient supply of the foreign currency in the shape of export receipts and remittances.

The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $137 million to $19.655 billion by week ended August 13, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $19.518 billion by week ended August 07, 2020.

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank also increased by $139 million to $12.608 billion by week ended August 13, 2020 as compared with $12.469 billion a week ago.

The SBP attributed the increase in reserves to proceeds of $249.4 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Meanwhile, during the week, SBP also made government external debt repayments of $151.0 million.

The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks slightly down by $2 million to $7.047 billion by week ended August 13, 2020 as compared with $7.049 billion a week ago.